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Zabel edges Petacchi at Paris-Tours; Bettini locks up World Cup
The World Cup stop long hyped as a sprinter’s race finally delivered on its promise after successful breakaways have ruled the undulating Paris-Tours course since 1996.
The sprinter teams led by Fassa Bortolo, Telekom and Saeco worked in harmony to keep an eight-man break that included the indefatigable Jacky Durand (Fdjeux.com) at arm’s length until 13km to go when the real fireworks started.
Despite two attacks in the final 8km by World Cup leader Paolo Bettini (Quick Step), the 97th running of Paris-Tours came down to a mass gallop on Tours´ wide Avenue de Gammont. Bettini's 11th place, however, was more than enough to give the Quick Step man an insurmountable lead in the season-long World Cup race, even though the series has one more stop on October 18.
| German sprint ace Erik Zabel (Telekom) derailed the Fassa Bortolo train and delivered a stinging upset to Alessandro Petacchi, who slapped his hands on his face after Zabel came around the left to snatch victory. | Results are now posted |
"It was down to me and Petacchi for this sprint. He looked very strong and I thought it was going to take a miracle to beat him. I must admit I’m a little surprised I won," admitted Zabel, who came through in 5 hours, 24 minutes, 54 seconds (47.55 kph) to win the ninth round of the World Cup.
"The wind was cutting across and maybe I was a little more protected, then I realized I could do it," said Zabel, who won Paris-Tours for the second time, the last time in 1994. "I attacked the sprint and I had good legs. It’s a satisfying victory."
Zabel won the fight to get on Petacchi´s wheel and powered past the history-making Italian to grab a nice victory to cap what’s been a somewhat disappointing season for the veteran German. Petacchi won four or more stages in all three grand tours this year, but fell short in his quest to win a World Cup race this season.
"This makes up for a disappointing Tour de France, where I had to satisfy myself with second and third," said Zabel, who won two stages and the points jersey in last month’s Vuelta a España. "I’m not so young anymore and I couldn´t fight for the green jersey at the Tour, but this helps me end my season on a positive note."
Stuart O´Grady (Credit Agricole) came through third to round out the podium while American Fred Rodriguez (Vini Caldirola) picked up ninth place. Damon Kluck (U.S Postal) finished 143rd at 15:36 back while his teammate Christian Vande Velde abandoned.
It was cool and cloudy when the race left the suburbs south of Paris for the long jaunt down the Loire Valley to Tours. Brisk winds pushed the peloton along and the race came in more than 30 minutes sooner than expected.
1998 Paris-Tours champion and last year´s runner-up Durand couldn´t help himself and went on the attack just three kilometers into the race. Fast to grab his wheel were Samuel Dumoulin (Jean Delatour), Lars Michaelsen (CSC), Tom Boonen (Quick Step), Stefan Kupfernagel (Phonak), Sebastian Lang (Gerolsteiner), Daniele Righi (Lampre) and Thomas Liese (Bianchi).
The eight got a gap of five minutes, but were kept at a safe 35 to 50-second margin with 25km to go. The move was finally squelched with 13km to go when the course hit some rolling hills pushing toward Tours.
Bettini jumped with 8km to go to string out the bunch and went again when he followed an Alessio rider. Bettini, a winner of three World Cup races this season, held a slender eight-second gap, but he wasn´t about to get away with it. Bettini finished 11th, just behind rival Peter Van Petegem (Lotto-Domo), to clinch the 10-round World Cup series.
With many of the fastest guns heading to Canada, Paris-Tours was also the last race of the season for many others, including Petacchi. The Italian had a dream season, winning four stages at the Tour de France, five at the Vuelta and six at the Giro.
The World Cup finale is set for October 18 in Italy for the Giro di Lombardia.
